Innovative Solutions, Pool and Spa Equipment, Pool and Spa Safety

Critter Friendly Pools

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Have you ever woken up and peeked outside toward your backyard swimming pool only to see that some poor critter had its final “swim” during the night?  Do you ever worry that your family pet might accidentally meet the same fate?  Even if your pet is no stranger to being in the pool, getting out of a pool is not always easy for animals — even if they have been shown where the pool’s stairs are located.  Unfortunately, tens of thousands of pets and other animals drown in backyard swimming pools every year in the U.S. alone.   Ensuring their safety is easy, though, thanks to the Skamper-Ramp.

Featured on The Early Show, Good Morning America, Animal Planet, and in local news segments around the country, the Skamper-Ramp is an inexpensive, durable, and easy solution that provides animals with a safe way out of a pool and gives pool owners peace of mind.   Skamper-Ramp is a necessary accessory that not only helps your family pet, but also the miscellaneous frogs, snakes, possums, and squirrels that somehow find their way into your pool when you’re not watching.

Possum Finds His Way Out

Pool and Spa Equipment

Above Ground Pool Alternative

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If you are thinking about an above ground pool, but you are not crazy about the cost of installation or the thought of winterizing each year, then you may want to consider a soft-sided swimming pool kit.  The Aqua Blue Splash-A-Round Pool is one example of a complete soft-sided swimming pool kit.  The kit comes with everything you need for an above ground pool — filter, pump, hoses, ladder, skimmer, return line, etc.  The framework snaps together without the need for tools and makes this pool one of the easiest above ground pools to set up.  No costly installation is required.  Setting up a soft-sided swimming pool can be done in as little as an hour.  These above ground pools can also be easily dismantled and moved or stored away once the swimming season is over.

If you aren’t ready to commit to a more permanent structure in your back yard, then opting for an alternative like the Aqua Blue Splash-A-Round Pool may be the answer.

Pool and Spa Equipment, Pool and Spa Safety

Preventing Children From Drowning Through Layers of Protection

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Drowning is often a “silent death” because a victim is usually unable to splash violently or call for help, as one might expect. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the second leading cause of death for children between ages 1 and 14 years, and an extensive study performed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) found that “75 percent of the children involved in swimming pool submersion or drowning accidents were between 1 and 3 years old.”

In addition, the CPSC’s study revealed the following statistics:

  • In most cases the children were being watched by one or both parents when the swimming pool accident occurred.
  • Nearly half of the child victims were previously seen inside the home before the pool accident occurred.  Twenty-three percent of the victims were last seen on the porch, patio, or in the yard.
  • Sixty-nine percent of the children who became victims in swimming pool accidents were not expected to be in or at the pool, but were found drowned or submerged in the water.

Preventing children from drowning or becoming submerged in a backyard swimming pool requires more than just a single safety device.  Providing “layers of protection” is the best strategy for keeping children safe in and around the pool.

Pool Fence
The first layer of protection is a barrier that surrounds the pool area; generally, this is a pool fence or wall. Fences or other barriers around the pool area should be at least four feet high, and the spaces between slats or holes in the barrier must be so small that it prevents a child from gaining a handhold or foothold which would allow them access to the other side of the barrier.  Any gates in the fence surrounding your backyard swimming pool should have the ability to close and latch by themselves so that there is no danger of the gates standing open for any length of time. In addition, gate latches should be placed out of the reach of children.

Door Alarm
Any door that leads from the house to the pool area should be equipped with an alarm that sounds if the door is opened. Door alarms need to alert you within 7 seconds after a door is opened and for a duration of at least 30 seconds, and the sound of the door alarm needs to be distinct and distinguishable from another alarm that may be in the house. In addition, door alarms should be equipped with a switch or keypad to allow adults to enter or leave through the door without the alarm sounding. This switch or keypad must be mounted high on the interior wall out of a child’s reach.

Pool Safety Cover
The next layer of protection is a pool safety cover. Solar pool covers and winter pool covers are not safety covers. In fact, solar covers and winter covers are potentially deadly because a person who steps out onto the cover while it is on the pool can become caught up in the cover as the pool cover sinks into the water. Escape is extremely difficult without immediate assistance.  When installed, a safety pool cover must be able to hold a minimum of 485 pounds per 5 square feet, according to the American Society for Testing and Materials’ (ASTM) standard F1346-91. Pool safety covers are anchored to a deck with straps. The straps usually attach to stainless steel springs and are anchored to recessed brackets in a deck surface. A mesh pool cover keeps water from rain and snow from sitting on the cover, but leaves, sticks, and other debris can gather in the pool while the cover is in use. A solid cover prevents debris from accumulating in the pool, but it does not allow rain and snow to drain through; as a result, the pool cover can sag and present a drowning danger to small children who may wander onto the cover if not carefully supervised. Choosing a solid pool cover with drain panels or obtaining a cover pump to remove the standing water is strongly advised.

Pool Alarm
Another layer of protection is a pool alarm. Pool alarms come in different varieties. Some are designed to detect movement on the top of the pool’s surface, some are specifically made to detect underwater disturbances, some act like motion detectors using infrared beams, and some are worn on the wrist and sound an alarm when the device is submerged.  Recommended features to look for in a pool alarm can be found in this previous post.

Adult Supervision
No matter how many safety precautions are made to protect children from submersion and drowning accidents in the backyard swimming pool, close and constant supervision by a responsible adult is the most important “layer of protection” for keeping children safe. Just knowing that a child can swim and providing them with flotation devices does not substitute for supervision. Implementing most, if not all, of the protective measures outlined in this post is the best defense in preventing children from experiencing a “silent death” by drowning in a swimming pool.

Sources:

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Document 359.  “How to plan for the unexpected: Prevent Child Drownings.”
  • U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Document 362.  “Safety Barrier Guidelines for Home Pools.”
Innovative Solutions, Pool and Spa Maintenance

Discover How Wind Affects Your Pool

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According to the U.S. Department of Energy, backyard swimming pools lose energy in a number of ways, but evaporation is the most significant source of energy loss. In fact, 70% of energy loss in swimming pools can be attributed to evaporation.

Four factors determine your pools’ evaporation rate.  Temperature, on air temperature and humidity, and on the wind speed at the pool’s surface. The higher the temperature of the pool, the higher the wind speed, and the lower the humidity, the greater the rate of evaporation. If you live in a windy area, you should install a wind barrier like strategically planted trees, or a tall fence, evaporation. The wind break should be high enough and near enough to the pool so that it doesn’t create turbulence over the pool, which will increase evaporation. You also don’t want the windbreak to block the sun from the pool; the sun helps to heat the pool and keeps it warm over time.

Creating an environmentally friendly swimming pool is achievable, important and simple to do. First, use Solar Covers, also known as solar blankets, to cover your pool. Solar Pool Covers or Blankets resemble enormous sheets of bubble wrap. The bubbles trap heat from the sun and convey the heat to the pool, keeping the water temperature warm and comfortable. The solar cover also helps to trap the water’s heat and prevents heat loss in the cooler air at night or on cooler days. Solar covers float freely on top of a pool without the need for tie-downs or anchors to secure them. Solar covers are usually folded and stored or rolled up in a large roll and wheeled out of the way. Solar Blankets are perfect for use in sunny climates because the more heat they can trap, the longer they can extend the swim season. Solar pool covers can increase water temperatures by as much as 10-15 degrees.

Besides offering energy savings, pool covers also do the following:

  • Save water by decreasing the amount of make-up water needed by 30%–50%;
  • Reduce the pool’s consumption of chemicals by 35%–60%;
  • Reduce cleaning time by preventing dirt and other debris from entering the pool.
Pool and Spa Equipment, Pool and Spa Safety, Uncategorized

Factors to look for when purchasing a pool alarm

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While pool alarms may come with many more features than are presented here, the following is a list of recommended features to look for when deciding on a pool alarm for your own backyard swimming pool:

  • Easy installation
  • Tamper proof
  • Includes a remote receiver with a range of up to 200 ft or more
  • Low battery indicator on alarm and on receiver
  • Recommended for the size and shape of your swimming pool
  • Able to detect an object as small as a 1 year old child, approximately 18 pounds
  • A loud and distinct alarm should sound within 20 seconds when a child simulator is dropped into the pool.

After you decide which pool alarm you need, performing regular tests of the alarm’s effectiveness will ensure that your alarm continues to function properly over time.

Finally and most importantly, no swimming pool alarm is totally infallible no matter how many technologies and features it has and no matter what claims are made by the manufacturer. Pool alarms should be considered as one of many layers of protection in the effort to halt children from drowning, along with protective barriers, door alarms, and safety pool covers.